


A Robin Tradition

by AnakinTheTrashKing



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-03 21:47:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14578356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnakinTheTrashKing/pseuds/AnakinTheTrashKing
Summary: "I saw the rhythm beneath it all. I can hum along with your jazz now. ... Right down to the smirk on your face right before you jump, "Nightwing," I KNOW you.""You know Nightwing's moves. Do you know Robin's? You can do jazz. How are you at punk rock?"A small series of drabbles inspired by this interaction. If Robin is punk rock, was that passed down from Robin to Robin? How was it passed down? Maybe by a playlist built up and passed along from Robin to Robin?





	1. Beginnings

“Shhh! Quiet, B! I’ve gotta catch this song!” Robin exclaimed.

“The sound of my voice will not effect the recording of the song.” Batman replied, eyes glued to the road, watching for crime and other cars. The DJ’s voice prattled on in the background, announcing the next song.

“Yeah, but you’re breaking my concentration! I’ve gotta get it at juuuuust the right moment,” his tongue stuck out the side of his mouth, he stared at the radio and tape deck as if he could see the right moment to press record. “aaaaaaaaaand… there!” he sighed in relief as the drums started to play and the DJ stopped talking.

“You know…” Batman began,

“‘We could just buy the tape and save the trouble’” Robin finished, “But that totally defeats the purpose of a mixtape!”

“Ok, ok, but I’ve got the album at home if you want it, I’m not that out of touch, kiddo.”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The silence sounded more like a dull ringing sound in Jason’s ears after the third blown up argument between Bruce and Dick that week. With an Arkham breakout of both the Joker and Scarecrow it was all hands on deck and the last few days really had everyone on edge. A very sharp, bite-each-other’s-heads-off edge, evidently. Hiding in his room Jason waited for the tell-tale stomps and not-quite-slamming of doors. Instead he heard the uncharacteristically slow footsteps of Dick in the hallway and a really long drawn sigh. That type of result was new to Jason.

Then there was a knock at his door. That was a really new result.

“Come in,” he said tentatively, jumping from his spot on the floor to sprawled out lazily on his bed.

“Hey, kid.” an awkward smile was on his face, “Sorry about that… Bruce just really- he can just be hard to deal with sometimes.” Another sigh. “Um. I-uh, have something for ya. Figured I’d give it to you now since I’ll probably- well, I’ll probably leave tonight after we catch them.” He pulled a smallish wrapped square from behind his back.

Jason sat up and looked suspiciously from the package to Dick’s face before carefully taking it.

“Well, open it!” Dick bounced on his toes, looking excited and actually kinda happy for once.

Jason opened the wrapping slowly, peeling back the tape and keeping the wrapping paper intact, revealing a black CD case.

“I put some of my old favorite CDs in there and some mix-tapes, well, mix-CDs that I made of songs I thought you might like. I used to listen to music out on patrol all the time and thought you’d like to as well.”

Suddenly the day didn’t look so bad to Jason after all. Genuinely blown away he managed to get out the two words, “Thank you.”  
Dick seemed to take that as an acceptance of the olive branch he had extended and hopped into the bed next to Jason, opening the CD case and beginning to explain the choices of albums and songs that he had chosen. Jason sat back thinking that sometimes miracles really do happen, and settled in to bask in the feeling of finally having a brother.


	2. Mournful Middles

Tim stood in front of Jason’s door. A door that had been untouched for at least the six months that Tim had been there. Until today.

Today Alfred and Dick were putting Jason’s old things into the attic storage before shutting up the room once again. The shuffling of stuff, taping of boxes, and sound of walking back and forth seemed to create it’s own melody of mourning. Everything sounded sad to Tim today.

Finally working up the courage he tapped on the door. It was opened by Dick.

“Can I help?” Tim asked, itching to do something instead of listening to the house shift and mourn it’s last child.

“Sure,” Dick replied. “You wanna collect the hangars? We’re putting his clothes into boxes.” His eyes were rimmed in red and weighed down by dark circles. Alfred’s eyes looked the same as much as he tried to hide it. 

They worked until the sun was low on the horizon, stacking boxes by the door. Only a few items were left when Dick shooed Alfred out the door to go get some rest, making him promise that they would have take-out or leftovers for dinner. Tim reluctantly stayed, unsure if Dick needed a moment to himself. He was staring out the window, looking toward the hill where the graves sat, surrounded by trees. Tim went to step out of the room when Dick began to speak, turning from the window.

“You know, there’s so many things I wish I could have done differently now. But there are a few things that I’m glad I did.” He walked over to the now almost empty bookshelf and pulled out a black CD case. “A couple years ago I gave this to him. It was my way of reaching out, sharing music. I collected some of the songs and albums that I liked to listen to while on patrol, and Jason added some of his favorites too.” He handed it to Tim. “Now you’re Robin and I want you to have it. Maybe we can make sharing songs into a Robin tradition.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh ok Im just posting it. I semi-edited it but I figured if i don't post it now it wont ever be posted. so there. its here. hope you enjoy it.

**Author's Note:**

> So these were the first two drabbles, I have one more that's already written and I have maybe one or two more that are rattling around in my brain... I really wish I could have written more, but I didn't want to stretch them past their natural stopping point because I feel like the writing would have really felt like i was stretching it too.  
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed them and please let me know if there are any grammatical mistakes, etc since I don't have a beta. Thanks!


End file.
